As is well known, at the present time, there are feedlots for feeding cattle. These feedlots vary in size and have various concentration of cattle or bos. For example, a farmer may have his own small feedlot and feed 25 head of cattle at a time. The farmer produces the majority, if not all, of the feed for the cattle. The cattle droppings can be spread on the farmer's land to help enrich the soil.
As the size of the feedlot increases, the disposal problems of the droppings, manure and the like, increase. At a certain size, the man or operator with the feedlot, ceases to raise his own feed but purchases all of the feed for the cattle. The problem of raising the feed for the cattle has been solved but the problem of disposing of the droppings and manure have not been solved and remains with the operator of the feedlot. In almost all instances, the operator of the feedlot will own only enough land to allow the cattle to eat, walk around and lay down. The operator of the feedlot will not own enough land to spread the droppings and the manure. In time, there is a build up of manure and it becomes necessary to move these accumulated wastes. For example, a bulldozer may be called in and the manure bulldozed into a large pile or mound in the pen. The cattle will lie on these large piles of manure. Even though there results large piles of manure, at some time it is necessary to dispose of the manure so as to have a place for the cattle to feed. An example of such a problem is a feedlot in Colorado having between 100,000 and 130,000 cattle. It is our understanding that the farmers in the vicinity of this feedlot bring in a truckload of silage and must accept two truckloads of manure for every truckload of silage. The manure is hauled from the feedlot and spread on the land of the farmers. This feedlot disposes of the manure by spreading it on the land of the suppliers of the silage.
In another feedlot we have visited, there is the facility for handling, approximately, 40,000 cattle at one time. One of the ranchers in fairly close proximity to this feedlot considered hauling the manure. Upon calculating the amount of manure to be spread upon his property, the calculation showed that in one year the depth of the manure would be approximately five feet (5') thick on this rancher's property. The soil is not capable of handling this quantity of manure. In Western Washington, it is estimated that the soil can handle one and one-half (11/2) cattle per acre without any problems. With an increase of the number of cattle per acre, the problems increase for the handling of the manure and the droppings.
Some feedlots are located near rivers. For example, in the Mid-West many of the feedlots are located near a river. When it rains, or there are flood conditions, or a spring thaw, the manure and droppings in the feedlot wash into the river and form an aqueous suspension in the river. As a result, there are contaminants in the river. The biological oxygen demand (BOD) of the river increases with a resultant decrease in the fish in the river. Furthermore, the towns downstream from the feedlot quite often take their domestic and industrial water from the river. However, at these downstream towns, the river is contaminated with manure and droppings from the bos or the cattle. Because of this contamination, it is necessary to more extensively treat the water in the river with a purification agent such as chlorine and to more extensively filter the treated water to make it suitable for domestic and industrial use. Also, because of the association of the domestic and industrial water with the manure in suspension, many of the townspeople object to drinking and using the water even though the bacteria count is sufficiently low so as not to introduce a disease or a sickness to the townspeople.
The manure and droppings from the cattle pose another pollution problem in that the ammonia from the urine and feces introduce pollution of ground and surface waters when the ammonia is oxidized to nitrates.
The disposal of the manure and droppings from a feedlot is a big problem. It is necessary to handle the solids. Generally, the solids must be transported a considerable distance and then spread on sufficient land so as to be absorbed and processed by the soil. The acquiring of this land is expensive. Further, the low value of manure as fertilizer does not warrant the hauling of manure over five miles to seven miles. The handling of the solids and the spreading of the solids is expensive and time consuming. All in all, the spreading of the manure and the droppings requires a large investment for the equipment and the land.
One source of the disposal problems associated with the droppings and manure from a bos is that the digestive system of a bos is inefficient. It is estimated that the bos digests approximately 30% to 70% of the feed, depending upon the feed. Then, the feed which is not digested passes through the bos and becomes droppings and manure. Some investigators have gathered the manure and have refed the manure to the bos. It is estimated that on refeeding the manure to the bos that the bos digests approximately 50% to 70% of the manure. In animal feed, and in manure, there is some indigestible material. For example, the feed to a bos comprises cellulose in the hay, alfalfa, cornstalks and the like. Some of this cellulose is not, readily, digestible by the bos. This cellulose base material passes through the bos to become manure and droppings.
The preceding discussion has been concerned with a cattle feedlot where a number of feeder cattle are concentrated and placed in large pens. These feeder cattle, mainly, eat and rest so as to grow and put on weight to achieve a weight in the range of about 950 pounds to 1100 pounds. The cattle are moved from the feedlot and must be slaughtered for feed. However, the droppings remain and must be processed. Otherwise, after a period of time, the droppings become so large in volume that the feedlot will not function.
With dairy cattle, there is a similar problem as with cattle in a feedlot. For example, the small dairy farmer with 25 to 35 cows, usually, has sufficient pasture for the cows to roam. The concentration of the cows per acre is sufficiently small for the earth to handle all the droppings. With an increasing concentration of cows or increasing size of dairy herds, there is not sufficient room for the cows to roam and for the earth to process the droppings. A small dairy farmer may raise all of his hay and buy feed. Further, a small dairy farmer may put up his own silage so as to buy, only, the grain and concentrate. A dairy farmer with a large herd will raise, substantially, no feed and will buy all of his roughage, such as hay, alfalfa, and will buy silage. Further, the large dairy farmer will buy all his grain and concentrates. The size of a large dairy farmer can vary, for example, a dairy farmer may have 130 cows on 30 acres, or may have 200 cows on 40 acres or may have as many as 600 to 800 cows on 80 acres. The earth does not have the bacterial and chemical capacity to handle the droppings from this large concentration of dairy animals.
With the larger dairy hers, the animals are kept on a concrete pad. The droppings are collected and processed. In one instance, the droppings may be collected and spread by a manure spreader, as solids, on the earth. In another instance there may be a large manure tank. The solid material, such as straw and hay stalks and stalks are pulverized and diminished in size so as to pass through a pump, without clogging the pump. Then, the liquid manure can be spread by a honey wagon or else spread by irrigation pipe onto the ground.
When there is insufficient land to process and handle all the droppings, there is used an oxidation lagoon. For example, there may be a hollow or cavity in the earth and the droppings piped or dumped into this hollows. In time, the droppings are processed by the bacteria and the chemicals in the oxidation lagoon and also by the bacteria and chemicals in the earth. Oxidation lagoons are popular in many areas of the country.
In a copending application, "FACILITIES AND PROCESS FOR MAINTAINING AND FEEDING CATTLE", filing date of Dec. 27, 1971, Ser. No. 212,324, there is described and claimed the facility for handling a large number of bos at one time. For example, in this facility, there may be as many as 6000 dairy cows on 160 acres. The processing of the manure and droppings from this large number of dairy cows can be a big problem. One way of processing and treating the manure and droppings is by an oxidation lagoon. On the 160 acres there is not sufficient land to receive the droppings and manure for treatment by the earth. Therefore, it is necessary to have auxiliary means for processing the droppings and manure. The subject matter of this disclosure teaches of a process for treating the droppings and manure which comprises various materials and chemicals.
Cattle manure is composed of many organic compounds such as undigested fibers and grain, metabolic products, discarded rumen cells, bacterial by-products, minerals, vitamen B.sub.12, various amino-acids, starch, and sugar.
The cellulosic material in feed and manure can be divided into two categories comprising a potentially digestible fraction and an indigestible fraction. The potentially digestible fraction can be digested by the animal. The indigestible fraction can be made available to ruminants in the animal if the lignin-polysaccharide complex is hydrolyzed chemically prior to refeeding the indigestible fraction.
An object and advantage of this invention is two-fold in that the first part is to lessen or eliminate the manure disposal problem and the second part is to convert the manure into a feed for a bos; another important object is to provide a, substantially, sterile feed for a bos, such as a beef cattle or a dairy cattle and which feed is, generally, more sterile than commercially available feeds; an additional important object is to provide a feed having the protein value and the feed value of, approximately, alfalfa; a further object is to convert some of the indigestible components of the manure to digestible components for feeding to a bos; another concept and advantage is to treat by various individual processes manure to produce different products and then blending the products to form a feed; a further and important object is to provide a feed or a feed supplement which is rich in calcium, protein, and phosphorus; and, an additional object is to provide a low cost feed or feed supplement which can be mixed with grains, hay, silage, alfalfa, and algae.
These and other important objects and advantages of the invention will be more particularly brought forth upon reference to the accompanying drawings, the detailed description of the invention, and the appended claims.